How Nigeria’s goal of quality, affordable cancer care can be achievable — Adewole, former health minister

NIGERIA’S former Health Minister, Professor Issac Adewole, has said that Nigeria’s goal of better and more quality access to cancer care for all is achievable only if it is backed up with the right policy environment, leadership and investment by governments at all levels.

Professor Adewole made this known in a keynote address entitled: “Improving Access to Quality and Affordable Cancer Care in Nigeria at the 7th annual general meeting and scientific conference of the Association of Radiation & Clinical Oncologists in Nigeria (ARCON)” in Ibadan.

The former Minister, who spoke through Imran Morha-son-Bello, a professor of obstetrics and gynaecologist at the University of Ibadan, stated that access to quality and affordable cancer care remains pivotal to reducing the overall burden of morbidity and mortality associated with cancer in Nigeria.

The don declared that although cancer prevention is cheap and its treatment is expensive, both strategies are important to the attainment of universal healthcare coverage for cancer care in Nigeria.

Adewole, noting that cancer remains a public health threat globally, stated that its burden is rising in Nigeria because of the changing demographics, lifestyles and behaviours, ignorance, and poverty, among other factors.

According to him, Nigeria, like other low and middle-in-come countries, is disproportionately affected by this, partly because of the poor health systems and because cancer has not been priori-tised in favour of the traditional public health problems, including maternal and child mortality and infectious diseases like malaria.

“Since 2012, more than 100,000 new cases of cancer diagnosis are made in Nigeria annually.
While all human tribes and tongues are at risk of cancer, there is an unequal distribution of cancers across the globe, with low-and middle-income countries like Nigeria bearing the higher burden of preventable cancers such as cervical cancer.

“In addition, inequalities also exist regarding the stage at presentation and likely outcomes of these cancers. For example, nearly 7 out of every 10 cases of cervical cancers present in advanced stages when cure as a treatment goal is no longer feasible.

“Therefore, the differences in cancer outcomes experi-enced across the world are not necessarily due to genetic differences but rather result from the differences in access to quality and affordable cancer prevention and care,” he said.

Adewole, however, declared that improving access to quality and affordable cancer care in Nigeria would require health systems to be integrated and strengthened, the adoption of digital health interventions in oncology, and revamping and repositioning the primary health centres.